SEC Approves Cost-Cutting Measures for CAT, Industry Welcomes Relief
Cboe Global Markets has proposed a significant reduction in the operating costs of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) from $248 million to approximately $196 million. The SEC has responded by issuing an order granting conditional exemptive relief to achieve this cost reduction while maintaining core regulatory functionality.
The SEC Chairman, Paul S. Atkins, has emphasized the need for both the Commission and CAT participants to take serious steps to reduce cost increases and improve efficiency. SIFMA, an industry group, agrees with the Chairman and believes more work is needed to further reduce CAT costs, eliminate investors' personally identifiable information (PII), and establish rational governance.
The CAT's budget for 2025 was initially approved at over $248 million. However, with previous cost amendments and the new relief, expenses are forecast to fall an additional $20 million-$27 million below the approximately $196 million forecast for 2025. SIFMA welcomes the SEC's exemptive relief as a long overdue step in reducing costs. The relief allows CAT plan participants to cease creating interim lifecycle linkages, ease late record re-processing requirements, cease certain targeted query tool functionality, and delete or store older CAT data more cost-effectively.
The SEC's order, following Cboe's proposal, aims to significantly reduce the CAT's operating costs while maintaining its core regulatory functionality. Industry stakeholders, including SIFMA, support these efforts and look forward to further cost reductions and improved governance.
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